NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi left the Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence after taking permission, said committee chairman Jual Oram on Thursday, adding that he also participated in discussions before leaving.
"Rahul Gandhi did not walk out of the Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence. After participating in discussions for quite a while, he took permission and left," Oram said.
"He repeatedly raised the issues of the Line of Actual Control, China and Taliban, but didn't walk out. He raised border situation issues and more but no agenda has been finalised," he added.
This comes after reports that the Wayanad MP and other party leaders walking out of the committee meeting after their demand for discussions on border issues was denied.
The agenda of the meeting was 'further briefing by the representatives of the Ministry of Defence on 'Review of Working of Cantonment Boards'.
While Gandhi did acknowledge that the cantonment agenda should be taken, he demanded that the committee should discuss issues that are "more crucial" like the Taliban gaining ground in Afghanistan and the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
Gandhi, who is also a member of the committee, was reminded by the Chairman of the committee to abide by the agenda circulated for this meeting.